Tuesday, October 11, 2005

I had mentioned this before, but the only game licensed to the movie is Serenity: Renegades, a mobile phone game. I couldn't resist downloading it yesterday.

As a game designed for simplicity and casual play, as most cell games are, it's not too bad. Essentially a scrolling version of Galaga with a buy screen and autofire. Sadly as a license, it misses the mark. For one thing, Serenity doesn't really have guns ... much less automatically firing cannons. For a franchise which has never really had a proper "dogfight" in space, this is all about blowing stuff up and doing other things (like picking up "friendly" ships) that Mal and his crew never really do. There is a "sneak" mode, but it's pretty silly. Essentially just like shoot mode, but you have a stealth monitor. In stealth mode, though, you are still running in with guns all ablazing.

It's really a shame there doesn't seem to be any kind of PC or console title for the franchise in the works. Rich with opportunity.